The Secret Santa Series V: Eliot & Parker
by Ultrawoman
Summary: Cross-Fandom Christmas Series. Set in a Christmas approx 5 years post-series. Eliot receives a surprise gift for Christmas, swiftly followed by another that he likes even better! E/P


**A/N: So, this is a continuation of a multi-fandom/multi-pairing series I started in 2008, with each story being a one-shot in a different fandom, with some of my fave ships partaking in 'Secret Santa' type activities. I have different sandboxes to play in these days, and so there is more. Hope you enjoy! Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays to all :)**

_**Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to people that aren't me! **_

The Secret Santa Series, Part V : Eliot & Parker

Eliot Spencer would say he hadn't even noticed it was Christmas, but that would be a lie. In the first place, it would be genuinely impossible to miss it. Though he watched very little TV and hadn't bothered with a newspaper in forever, it was still very clear from every shop window, every bouncing kid in the street, that Christmas was right around the corner.

It was a time for family. These days Eliot just didn't have one of those. His parents were long gone, his sister happier if he stayed away. Since then, well, for a while Eliot had a new family. For five years there were five of them, for a couple of years after, just the three. Now he was alone again, through nobodies fault really. Crap just happened sometimes, and it left them all floating out in space by themselves again.

The real problem this time around was that Eliot didn't know what to do with himself anymore. Before the team, he was a bad guy, but at least he knew where he belonged. Work was easy to come by and he put himself wherever he was paid to go. In between jobs with his team, when he was the good guy, Eliot went where he was _needed_ instead. He helped out wherever he could and it felt good to do so.

Now was different. He didn't know what side he belonged on anymore. He had no anchor and no direction. For the first time in his life, Eliot didn't like being free. He'd pay to be tied down and bossed around, mostly by one person in particular.

Sitting down on the edge of the bed, Eliot ran his hands over his face and back through his hair. He never did let it grow out again, kept it shorter because apparently it suited him. Several people told him, and he growled at each and every one just because. For her, he had found a thank you to go along with the pseudo-angry sound.

They were still a team then, still happy in each other's company. How things changed.

Eliot shook the melancholy thoughts from his head and stood up. He needed to get changed out of these clothes that smelt of spilt beer and oil from the fryer. Helping out in a bar and grill downtown wasn't a plan exactly, but the boss was short-handed and Eliot had both the cooking and bar-tending skills to be useful. He tried to refuse pay but couldn't explain why, so he just cashed in the pay cheque every week and dropped the money into the nearest homeless shelter or similar. He lived simply, in an apartment across town, under a false name, keeping contact with the neighbours to a minimum. It ought to be perfect for a man who didn't like company. It was almost a shame he'd changed, Eliot thought, as he pulled his shirt off over his head.

Something was wrong. The sense of it came over the hitter all of a sudden and he just knew, he wasn't completely alone. Hardison used to say that his spidey sense was tingling, and the geek reference came to Eliot's mind unbidden as he turned a slow circle. His eyes scanned the room and looked out into the hallway. His hands twitched and his feet automatically set themselves so he was battle ready.

After a few seconds, Eliot moved briskly towards the door. It wasn't that he heard a sound exactly, but he had this feeling, a _distinctive_ feeling... Opening the door in one fluid movement, he found no person there, but somebody had been and only a minute or two before. There was a gift on Eliot's doorstep, not a box wrapped in a ribbon like one might expect, but a gingerbread house, decorated to the limits with icing and candy. Eliot smiled slowly.

"Parker?"

"Damn it!" she cursed, as the hitter looked up and spotted a flash of blonde beyond the vent cover over his head.

There was a smirk on his lips that Eliot just couldn't help as he bent to pick up the gingerbread house and then headed back inside, closing the door behind him. It was no surprise at all to find Parker now inside the apartment, the vent cover in his living room wall swinging on one screw.

"You weren't supposed to know," she grumbled, folding her arms the way Eliot himself always did when he felt annoyed or defensive. "It was like a Secret Santa thing."

"You seriously thought you could pull that with me, darlin'?" he asked, genuinely amused. "Parker, even if I hadn't know you were there, you don't think I woulda known _this_ was from you?" he said, lifting the gingerbread house aloft.

He took a moment to really look at it now, balanced on his right hand with no chance of him dropping it. Honestly, it was a dead ringer for the one he helped her with that Christmas in Boston when they pulled the job at the mall. Parker had been hell-bent on making everything just-so that particular holiday season. She needed Eliot's help with the cookies, the eggnog, and the gingerbread house. It had turned out way better than he thought, but he should've known better. Parker had the steadiest hands in the business when it came to lock picking and laser beams. It stood to reason she'd be good with balancing cookies and piping icing like a pro.

"You did this all yourself," he said, a statement not a question. "For me?"

That part was a question, even if it was a dumb one. People didn't do nice things for Eliot. Well, those in his team had when they were all together, but this was different. This was genuinely thoughtful and sweet. This was Parker not just tracking him down and sneaking into his home, but spending time and effort on a gift that ought to please him. She wanted to show him she had practised and learnt well from what he had taught her. It all meant so much more than it seemed at first glance, and when they looked each other in the eye, they both knew it.

"I missed you," she said simply, shifting on the spot as if it were the most complicated thing in the world to explain. "I coped without Nate ad Sophie, and being away from Hardison was what I needed at the time, but you... you were always different," she admitted.

Eliot nodded slowly, eyes shifting away from her face to look at his odd yet perfect Christmas gift again. Parker missed him. He was on her mind so much that she tracked him down this Christmas, and built a gingerbread house in his name. She was as crazy as she had ever been and Eliot was thrilled to know it, almost as thrilled as he was to see her after too long.

"You wanna know somethin'?" he asked, carefully placing the confectionery building onto the side table using both hands. "I missed you too," he admitted then.

Eliot barely had time to brace himself before Parker came bolting across the short space between them, hurling herself into his arms. She rarely cried, and yet the way her shoulders shook and the damp patch soon forming on his shoulder told Eliot this was one of Parker's rare occasions for emotion. He didn't say anything about it, just held on tight until she was done.

When she pulled back and met his eyes, her face was blotchy and her eyes glassy with further unshed tears. She was still the most beautiful woman Eliot had even known, inside and out. Damn, he really had missed her.

"Stealthiest chick I ever met, and you can't even pull off being Secret Santa," he teased her, putting a hand to her cheek.

"Yeah, well," she sighed, leaning instictively into his touch. "Most shadow-like guy I ever met, and you can't even hide in a place where I can't find you," she replied smartly.

"Maybe I wanted you to find me, you ever think of that?" he challenged, knowing it was dumb because even if he had done that, it was never a conscious decision. "Maybe I was just waitin' for you to come looking."

"Maybe you were," she returned his smirk of an expression as she searched his eyes.

He was teasing her terribly, but Parker didn't care. This was part of what she missed, the back and forth, the special relationship that only ever existed between her and Eliot. She had a good bond with each and every member of her team, with Archie before that, with a foster brother she would never forget, but Eliot was always different. He understood her in a way she hadn't really even understood herself for the longest time. She missed that understanding, and the blue eyes that sparkled like the brightest diamonds she ever stole, and the strong arms to catch her on the odd occasion when she screwed up a jump. For just a moment, Parker stood and breathed in the feeling of being here again, with Eliot's arm around her, just being in his presence after too long away.

"You like your Christmas gift, right?" she checked, suddenly frowning.

The corner of Eliot's mouth quirked up without him meaning for it too.

Parker came off all confidence and nonchalance. It didn't mean she wasn't constantly worried she was getting it wrong. Even when she took over Nate's role in the smaller team, she still looked for reassurance on the decisions she made. Her choices were right, ninety-nine percent of the time, but she would look to Eliot for his nod, his promise that he had come to the same conclusion.

"Never loved anything more," he told her seriously then, holding her so close that the words were just a whisper of breath across her face.

Parker was pretty sure they weren't talking about the gingerbread house anymore, and when Eliot kissed her she knew she was right. This was how it was supposed to be, she was sure of that now. Coming here had literally been to drop off the gift and run like hell. She just wanted Eliot to know he wasn't alone, and perhaps she wanted to feel like she had someone still to turn to even after everything. Things had turned out differently to what Parker thought, but in the best possible way.

"Hmm, that might be the best Christmas gift ever," she smiled as they parted from their kiss. "But maybe I should just check to be sure."

Eliot would've laughed if he wasn't so eager to give her exactly what she was asking for. Somewhere between the living room and the bedroom, he heard her tell him 'Happy Christmas, Eliot' and he responded in kind out of reflex more than anything else. Happy was certainly a word to describe how he felt right now, and the noises she was making suggested Parker was feeling the same. If she was still here come morning, then yes, it genuinely would be a happy Christmas. Though he couldn't have known it, Eliot didn't need to worry. Parker had already decided this was the only place she wanted to spend the most special day of the year, and a great many days after that too.

The End


End file.
